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M14 rifle
The M14 is a rifle adopted by the U.S. military as a replacement for the M1 Garand. Officially it is known as U.S. rifle, 7.62mm, M14, and described as "a lightweight, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed, shoulder weapon".United States Department of the Army Field Manual 23-8, 7 may 1965, p. 3 It is designed primarily for semiautomatic fire and has a selector switch on the shooter's right at the rear of the receiver that allows for fully-automatic fire. Design The M14 is largely based on the M1 Garand design. It fires the 7.62 x 51mm NATO round. It differs by using the White gas-cutoff short-stroke piston design, along with full-auto capability and a 20 round detachable magazine. History Used by most U.S. forces early in the Vietnam Conflict, the M14 was largely replaced by the M16 in the late 1960s, under Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara. Only limited use of the rifle was made after the adoption of the M-16, mostly by the U.S. Navy, where they were stored aboard ships. However, after the outbreak of the Iraq war in 2003, some M-14s were pulled from storage and issued to infantry units for use in combat, but heavily modified for DMR role. M-14s were also pulled from storage, fitted with scopes, and issued during the War On Terror in Afghanistan, to provide long range fire support against Al-Queda and Taliban insurgents. Variants Several M14 variants were developed and created. Civilian M14K Variant designed and built by Master Weaponsmith Timothy F. LaFrance of La France Specialties of San Diego, California, most using forged receivers produced by Smith Enterprise of Tempe, Arizona. This rifle has a custom-made short barrel with a custom-made flash suppressor, shortened operating rod, and employs a unique gas tube system. Fully automatic versions have a removable flash suppressor. Semi-automatic versions (of which very few were made) have a silver-brazed flash hider to comply with the requirement that Title I firearms have a 16" barrel. Most M14Ks employ the M60 gas tube system. Some late-model M14Ks employ a custom-designed and manufactured gas system. Both are intended to control the rate of fire in fully-automatic mode. The rear sight is a custom-made National Match type aperture, and the front sight is a custom-made narrow blade, wing-protected sight to take advantage of the additional accuracy afforded by the special barrel. The stocks and handguards on M14Ks are shortened versions of the GI birch or walnut stock, but make use of the original front ferrule. The front sling mount is relocated slightly to rear, to accommodate the shortened stock. Most handguards are of the solid, fiberglass variety (albeit shortened), but a limited number were made with shortened wood handguards. The steel buttplate was deleted in favor of a rubber recoil paid, that greatly reduces perceived recoil. A limited number of M14Ks were manufactured with the BM-59 Alpine / Para folding stock. These too had the shortened stocks and handguards, making for an extremely compact package especially suited to vehicular and airborne operations. A couple of M14Ks were built for SEAL Team members using the tubular folding stock assembly on a cut-down M14E2 stock found on some of the Team's full-size M14s prior to adoption of the Sage International EBR stock for M14 applications. These are by far one of the rarest variants of the M14K.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M14_rifle#M14K M1A The civilian version of the M14 is the M1A. The M1A series is the basic M14 rifle with no included accessories except for the Loaded Package which comes equipped with railed handguards, a bipod and a scope. Unable to fire on fully automatic. SOCOM Series/Scout Squad The SOCOM series and the Scout Squad are based on the short-barreled version of the M14. The SOCOM 16 comes with provisions to mount optics and the SOCOM II adds railed handguards to the package. Military M21 and M25 The M21 and M25 are accurized sniper rifle versions, built to closer tolerances than the standard M14. These are the more standard sniper rifle variants of the M14. Mk 14 Mod 0 EBR Fairly recently, the M14 was upgraded to the Mk 14 Mod 0 EBR(Enhanced Battle Rifle), featuring the same general firing mechanism, with a better, lightweight body. Also has a retractable stock and more rails for more optics, lasers, etc. References http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/03/army_m14_032210w/ Sources * Department of the Army Field Manual 23-8, U.S. Rifle 7.62mm, M14 and M14E2, Department of the Army, May 1965 Category:Rifles Category:Sniper rifles Category:Semi-automatic rifles